Are Men or Women More Reluctant to Marry in Couples Sharing a Non-Marital Birth?

Emily F. Shafer, Northwestern University

Despite growing concern over the "retreat from marriage," little is known about gender differences in men and women's attitudes towards marriage. In order to examine whether one gender is driving the "retreat from marriage", I capitalize on a new longitudinal study of unmarried parents--The Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. I find that among romantically involved unmarried parents, unmarried fathers are more positive about marriage than unmarried mothers. Using ordered logistic analysis, I find that, net of other factors, men have more positive attitudes regarding marriage and their current relationship than their female partners.